Hundreds of strangers rally support to honor veteran

Veteran Harold Jellicoe “Coe” Percival died at age 99 on October 25. Not many people noticed his passing. His obituary revealed he was a single man and “has no close family who can attend his funeral.” Since Percival served in RAF Bomber Command as ground crew during WWII, the obituary stated that any service personnel who could attend his funeral service would be appreciated.

This request was answered enthusiastically. Percival’s obituary spread quickly across the internet thanks to sites like Twitter, Facebook and Reddit.

Support to send Percival off properly grew and this morning funeral directors at Lytham Park Cemetery and Crematorium in England were taken by surprise when hundreds of people who had never even met Percival turned out to honor the veteran.

See below for more tweets from the funeral and take a look at the gallery to see the ceremony that unfolded as hundreds of strangers gathered to celebrate Percival’s life and service. It might just restore your faith in humanity.